Questions tagged [biochemistry]
The study of chemistry within the scope of biology: the compounds that occur and the reactions involving them in living organisms.
2,063 questions
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Given the conditions below, could crystal methamphetamine have any physiological effect on this cholinergic synapse? [closed]
Could crystal methamphetamine have any physiological effect on this cholinergic synapse given the conditions below:
No action potential reaches the presynaptic terminal.
The extracellular Ca²⁺ ...
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If a coast redwood tree had unlimited resources (nutrients, water, food and energy), is lignification the speed limit that prevents rapid growth?
I'm working on a hard sci-fi concept and I'm trying to figure out the absolute theoretical limit for how fast a coast redwood tree could grow if we removed the standard environmental bottlenecks.
I'm ...
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Is Oxygen from chemical sources used for respiration in humans?
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Is there theoretical or experimental evidence that oxygen atoms from molecules in the body are 'cycled back' into the respiratory or circulatory system at all?
Possible sources other than air ...
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I need help with a DNA repair problem and I can’t figure out the correct logic (Tom Lindahl’s BER experiment)
The assignment is based on Tom Lindahl’s BER experiment (UDG → HAP1 → Pol β → Ligase III).
My professor asked us to redo the exact same 8-lane table, but instead of using monofunctional UDG + HAP1, we ...
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Organosilicon compounds
Many organisms, such as diatoms and glass sponges, make use of silicon dioxide with various levels of hydration.
However, does any organism biosynthesize a chemical with carbon-silicon bonds?
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What is the contribution of plasma proteins to osmosis if semi-permeable/cell membrane is impermeable to it?
Clinical laboratories report the plasma composition of ions (e.g., Na, K") in units of milliequivalents (meq) per liter of plasma solution. However, for cells bathed by interstitial fluid, a more ...
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Why does acidity/basicity affect accumulation across a membrane (ion trapping)?
At steady state, an acidic drug will accumulate on the more basic side of the membrane and a basic drug on the more acidic side. This phenomenon, known as ion trapping, is an important process in drug ...
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Why is there a rapid decrease in Calcium current in phase 1 of ventricular action potential?
So after reading about mechanism of gating Wikipedia I understand the physiology of gating.
I was reading Cardiac Electrophysiology by Zipes and Jalife as a reference, I found these images:
Question:
...
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The triple helix of DNA
I read that there is a triple helix of DNA, where two DNA helices are linked in the usual, standard way, and the third is linked by a Hugstein bond. I was wondering what function it performs in the ...
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How do the ionic currents of phase 1 and 2 of ventricular action potential work?
I was reading about the cardiac electrophysiology from the "Medical Physiology" textbook. These parts confused me:
Phase 1 is the rapid repolarization component of the action potential (...
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What biological systems or adaptations could inspire low-tech sustainable innovations?
I'm preparing for the New Delhi Global Youth Summit, and I want to build a biologically inspired product that solves a practical problem — ideally in water, climate, or energy resilience.
I’m looking ...
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Why no DNA World hypothesis?
Since DNA can act as a catalyst, like RNA can (even if it is not necessarily as efficient), why don't paleobiologists believe abiogenesis began with DNA World instead of 'RNA World'?
(I ask this, in ...
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How unique might DNA be as an encoding solution?
Nucleotides have two key properties that make them useful for encoding information: Each has a unique partner that it connects to naturally to create a base pair, but each one also has another part ...
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Why can't plants absorb organic phosphate?
I've been creating a presentation on the phosphate cycle and was looking into the difference between inorganic and organic phosphate, but I still can't really understand why it's possible for plants ...
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Modelling RNA translation
Are there formal or computational models of RNA translation that treat codons as virtual instructions in for example a ROM-like lookup table architecture?
I’m exploring analogies between embedded ...